I Wonder .....

[john2]

what is the average life of a short track car ?

[Fordguy01]

Not sure what the average life of a short track car is but a year ago one of the sprint car drivers here at Eagle Raceway had won two maybe three feature races that year and the frame/chassis on his car was 10 years old at the time.  My best uneducated guess is that if you can keep from tumbling over time after time, keep it off the wall and out of the way of other cars it may stand a chance.

Al

[john2]

Yeah, they kinda morph along, so you can't really tell.  But I'd bet most not very long. 

I have seen thousands of them race, and I wonder where they are now.  Junk yards and scrap piles I guess, even years later.

[Olderndirt]

I suspect that if they don't get hopelessly damaged, they end up getting parted out, and the remnants scrapped. A couple of local guys who ran the regional bullrings had what was left of their early modifieds out behind the shop. A collector came buy and bought them up to restore for his collection.

  Olderndirt

[Brian Conn]

  A lot of it depends on how well the car was built in the first place....case in point.
  Locally, a '70 Chevelle was built as a dirt late Model in 1976.  1978-1980 it was being raced by the same driver in the Hobby Stock class, the class just below the Late Models....1981 -1982??? still being raced in the class that the Hobby stock class morphed into.

  After being parked for almost 10 years, in 1992 the same car shows up at the local dirt track running in the street stock class...that was the last I saw of it.

  Starting to see more and more older modified chassis being used in Street stocks and vintage class racing....I'd venture to say most are at least 10 years old if not older.

[john2]

Thanks everyone. 

[Fordguy01]

One more thing John, here in Nebraska there is a class called GOTRA (Good Old Time Racing Association) these are older cars that are too far gone for restoration or street rodding so these guys build a vintage style stock car reminiscent to what ran in the 50's, 60's and 70's.  The caveat here is that there are still some of these cars in the association that were actually raced back in the day and at one time a few years ago one of these older cars a 39/40 Ford coupe was an actual NASCAR at one time.  Believe me some of these old cars can still step out pretty lively and get around the track in pretty good time.  There is also another group here called classic stock cars this group is primarily later slab sided cars such as Chevelles,  Fairlanes and Chryslers these are more of the late model type cars.  So some of these cars have had a good retirement but can still get the job done.

Al

[john2]

Very interesting, Al, and sounds like a lot of fun.

This topic came to mind with Brian's pictures of the Studebaker, and his still finding junkers  outside. 

I don't think I am physically able to climb the stands anymore, so I no longer go to races.  I rarely see ANY racers anymore.  What with closed trailers, and then everything so expensive you cannot leave one outside these days. 

Used to be such a pleasure to see them as you drove around.  Things have really changed in my lifetime, and not just with racing. 

[Fordguy01]

They are a hoot to watch and really takes me back to the day.  If you want to see some dirt track racing go to Dirtvision.com.  My racing/golf/football/hockey buddy told me about it and he goes there all the time and I have been there a time or two.  They have the world of outlaws sprints, outlaw late models modifieds, etc.  If you have trouble let me know and I'll get with my buddy for more info for you.  Give it a try.

Al

[john2]

Thanks.  I'll try it. 

[Dr. Kerry]

My buddy has been running the same frame on his sprint car for the last 7 seasons. Yeah he's had to replace bars here and there and straighten it out a few times but the core frame is still intact..

[john2]

Long for a racer, huh, Doc ?

[sentsat71]

There was a car that ran with the CRA sprint cars based in SoCal back some years ago now, It was the Bruce Bromme built and owned cat that debuted in 1962 and raced competively until around 1977/78, when the lighter built cars started out running this car more and more....
Story was told that the Bomme's had a new frame built and ready to be finished off, but Bruce Sr. supposedly said, "Why retire the old car? It's still winning."
From its debut in '62, until around May of '73 it was powered by an Offy. 
Again Bruce, Sr. said if he could have gotten more cranks for the Offy, he would have kept running it.